Light emitting diodes (LED's) are solid-state semiconductor devices which emit light when an electrical current is passed between anode and cathode. Conventional LED's contain a single pn junction. The pn junction may include an intermediate undoped region; this type of pn junction may also be called a pin junction. Like non-light emitting semiconductor diodes, conventional LED's pass an electrical current much more readily in one direction, i.e., in the direction where electrons are moving from the n-region to the p-region. When a current passes in the “forward” direction through the LED, electrons from the n-region recombine with holes from the p-region, generating photons of light. The light emitted by a conventional LED is monochromatic in appearance; that is, it is generated in a single narrow band of wavelengths. The wavelength of the emitted light corresponds to the energy associated with electron-hole pair recombination. In the simplest case, that energy is approximately the band gap energy of the semiconductor in which the recombination occurs.
Conventional LED's may additionally contain one or more quantum wells at the pn junction which capture high concentrations of both electrons and holes, thereby enhancing light-producing recombination.
Several investigators have attempted to produce an LED device which emits white light, or light which appears white to the 3-color perception of the human eye.
Some investigators report the purported design or manufacture of LED's having multiple quantum wells within the pn junction, where the multiple quantum wells are intended to emit light at different wavelengths. The following references may be relevant to such a technology: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,851,905; 6,303,404; 6,504,171; 6,734,467; Damilano et al., Monolithic White Light Emitting Diodes Based on InGaN/GaN Multiple-Quantum Wells, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 40 (2001) pp. L918-L920; Yamada et al., Phosphor Free High-Luminous-Efficiency White Light-Emitting Diodes Composed of InGaN Multi-Quantum Well, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 41 (2002) pp. L246-L248; Dalmasso et al., Injection Dependence of the Electroluminescence Spectra of Phosphor Free GaN-Based White Light Emitting Diodes, phys. stat. sol. (a) 192, No. 1, 139-143 (2003).
Some investigators report the purported design or manufacture of LED devices which combine two conventional LED's, intended to independently emit light at different wavelengths, in a single device. The following references may be relevant to such a technology: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,851,905; 6,734,467; U.S. Pat. Pub. Nos. 2002/0041148 A1; 2002/0134989 A1; and Luo et al., Patterned three-color ZnCdSe/ZnCdMgSe quantum-well structures for integrated full-color and white light emitters, App. Phys. Letters, vol. 77, no. 26, pp. 4259-4261 (2000).
Some investigators report the purported design or manufacture of LED devices which combine a conventional LED element with a chemical phosphor, such as yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG), which is intended to absorb a portion of the light emitted by the LED element and re-emit light of a longer wavelength. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,998,925 and 6,734,467 may be relevant to such a technology.
Some investigators report the purported design or manufacture of LED's grown on a ZnSe substrate n-doped with I, Al, Cl, Br, Ga or In so as to create fluorescing centers in the substrate, which are intended to absorb a portion of the light emitted by the LED element and re-emit light of a longer wavelength. U.S. Pat. No. 6,337,536 and Japanese Pat. App. Pub. No. 2004-072047 may be relevant to such a technology.